Economic Competence Vs Petty Attacks

ALISTAIR DARLING ON LOAN CULTURE

"In crude terms [lenders] need to know who they're lending to, how much they're lending and what the risk is.
"Now, that's elementary banking, one might think, but there are times when going back to good old-fashioned banking may not be a bad idea."

Adding that:

"My starting point is that government can't stand on the shoes of borrowers or lenders.
"[Borrowers] need to ask themselves, 'Can I repay this?' and lenders need to ask themselves, 'If it goes wrong, can I get it back?'. People do need to think long and hard about this,"

More information on what the Chancellor of the Exchequer said can be found here.

I have to say that I am very glad that this issue has been raised, for too long now I have seen television adverts for loan companies which just irritates me because I can almost see the subliminal message "How to get further into debt". Now the Tories may try and pin the blame on the Govt.. (what's new), but economic competence is a multi layered responsibility and it is the governments duty to point out where there is a problem which they have already done.

And what has the Shadow Chancellor said yesterday that was of great economic importance?
Well George "I make jibes about autism in connection with Gordon Brown" Osborne went for his usual nasty and immature great topic of the day by saying to The Times yesterday that:


Gordon Brown was a bully who put the phone down on him and “crushed” six former shadow chancellors, George Osborne has said (Philip Webster writes).
The Shadow Chancellor said in a Tatler interview that when Mr Brown was Chancellor they had a “hostile relationship which he initiated.” The telephone incident occurred before the key Commons votes on holding terror suspects.
Mr Brown rang Mr Osborne from a flight about to leave for the Middle East to ask whether he could miss the vote as well, cancelling each other out. Mr Osborne refused and the Chancellor angily slammed down the phone on him

Now there have been some formidable Conservative economic spokesmen in the past, whether you agree with them or not. Butler, Macmillan, and Lawson among them. But their latest edition who specialises in the worst in school debating, given his continuous personal attacks on Gordon Brown, says a lot about the state of the Conservative Party today. Gordon Brown has a far better record in competency and political nous than George Osborne and it shows.